Frederick Burr Opper

(2 January 1857 - 28 August 1937, USA)

The Happy Hooligans

Frederick Burr Opper a prominent artist among the first wave of American cartoonists, known for such features as 'Happy Hooligan', 'And her Name was Maud' and 'Alphonse and Gaston'. Born in Madison, Ohio as the son of an Austrian immigrants, Opper was only fourteen years old when he started drawing cartoons for The Madison Gazette.

At the age of twenty, he moved to the eastcoast and became staff artist of the magazine Wild Oats. Meanwhile, he also did freelance work for other magazines, like political cartoons for Puck and Harper's Bazaar.

And Her Name Was Maud (2 October 1904)

By 1900, he was staff artist at the Hearst newspapers, and created the cartoon strip 'Happy Hooligan', which had a successful run for 25 years. Two years later came the ever polite 'Alphonse & Gaston'. The revenge-seeking Maud the Mule was created in the feature 'And her Name was Maud' in 1904. Other lesser known creations by Opper are 'Our Antedeluvian Ancestors' and 'Howson Lotts', one of the first satires on suburban life. Opper's comics often featured guest appearances from characters from other strips.

In addition, Opper was a politically engaged cartoonist for the New York American and Journal. He was also active as an illustrator, among others for Eugene Field's 'Tribune Primer' and George V. Hobart's 'Dinkenspiels' stories. Five years before his death, Opper was forced to stop drawing because of eye problems. He died in 1937, at the age of 80.